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Did some concrete grinding this weekend and it SUCKS!

68EFIvert

68EFIvert

Well-Known Member
As I have mentioned in the past we are building a new house with a good sized garage. It is about 1200 sq feet, basically 5 cars. @ bays for projects and the other 3 for daily drivers and the Mustang. The builder poured the concrete before I had a chance to do Epoxy floor coating research and finished the floors as the do for all the houses they build, with a concrete sealer. As it turns out the Epoxy-Coat system I am using won't stick to sealed concrete.

I called the lady at Epoxy-Coat and she said I would have to use a concrete grinder to remove the sealer and prep the floor. I called the rental place and secured on for Saturday afternoon and return Monday morning. I visioned I would be done Saturday evening. WRONG! I ground straight from 3:30 till Midnight on Saturday only stopping to have dinner with the family for 30 minutes. I started again on Sunday morning at 10 stopping 15 minutes for lunch and 15 for dinner. I completed the job at 12:30 am. 22 Hours!

I still have a strip about 3" along the side of the garage where the machine would not reach. I plan on using Soy Gel to do that part. I will do that this week. Needless to say I had to come to work today to get a rest. My plan is to leave work early on Friday to do the first coat and flecks so that I can do the top coat on Saturday.

With any luck we will be able to move in house the following weekend, Nov 3rd. :yah
 
Not sure I wouldn't let it cure a few weeks (or months) before the epoxy. Just a thought. BTW, I hate concrete, period.
 
"67 evil eleanor" said:
Not sure I wouldn't let it cure a few weeks (or months) before the epoxy. Just a thought. BTW, I hate concrete, period.
Click to expand...
+1

I believe most concrete takes about 28 days to cure 90%. The longer you wait, the better you will probably be.

There is only two things guaranteed with concrete... 1 - it gets hard, and 2 - it cracks.
 
I am not sure the acid would cut through the sealer. I want to give myself the largest chance of success so I did exactly as Epoxy-Coat recommended. The floor has been down for about 60 days so I should be good to go. They do recommend waiting 39 days IIRC.
 
The epoxy is down and it was worth it. Now to paint the walls! Gray or white walls is the question?

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you will like that floor. mine has held up great so far with no issues. don't feel too bad about your diamond grinding experience. when i did mine, i had a previous w/b epoxy coating to remove plus the crud from the fire. all this in early february in temps so cold that the water hooked up to the grinder to keep the dust down was freezing on the floor...
 
I saw the water hook up but the guys said it would not help. I just hooked up a shop vac for the dust. Does the diamond grinding work better with water? If so, that may be why it took me so damn long. :shrug
 
yes, it seemed to cut better with the water.... did you have the gas or electric version. i had the gas & they said it would cut better than the electric one.
 
I had to rent the single head grinder on my floor as well before applying garage floor coating. Definitely improved things using water.
 
Water should always be used - like wet sanding, it keeps the stones from clogging, thereby keeping them cutting. Reduced dusting is the secondary benefit.
 
It sure would have been nice if the rental guys knew how to properly use the products so they could explain it to customers. Oh well, it is done and now I can focus on the walls and air compressor filtration setup.
 
I've had that problem with the rental guys before on a floor sander. Now I ask the maintenance guys at the plant, or if none of them have experience seek out online forums, etc.
 
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